N. Texas road rage victim on a mission to find driver

The hardest part for Jennifer Russell, 28, is being totally dependent. With two children of her own, seeing what her mom does for her is difficult.

Author:
Jobin Panicker

Published:
6:12 AM CST November 17, 2016

The hardest part for Jennifer Russell, 28, is being totally dependent. With two children of her own, seeing what her mom does for her is difficult.

"This is my new reality and it's not one I wish on anybody," said Russell.

Russell needs help getting onto the couch, so her mother, Lisa Barlow, has to lift her. The Department of Public Safety tells News 8 that Jennifer is the victim of road-rage. The incident took place in Denison on Highway 691 on July 29.

Russell was in the vehicle with her boyfriend when she says he got into an altercation with the driver of another vehicle. Russell says the initial interaction was verbal but then turned physical while both vehicles were stopped next to each other.

After the altercation, the two vehicles went their separate ways but thirty minutes later is when the accident happened.

"I feel angry that two vehicles full of people left me for dead," Russell said.

She said the accident happened after the car driven by one of the men, who is still on the loose, raced in front of them, slammed on the brakes, and forced them into oncoming traffic.

"I had planned her funeral,” said Barlow. “I had called the funeral parlor and planned her funeral.”

Jennifer Russell spent 95 days in a hospital and went through 20 surgeries. She lost her right leg, part of her hip, and 40 pounds. Sadly, she also lost her self-esteem.

"I wanted to die today. I told my mom I used to be scared of the afterlife but now I'm more scared of living," Russell said.

For her, every bit of movement is painful. The drugs to manage that pain are round-the-clock. News 8 counted at least 10 different medications to help her get through the day.

"I really shouldn't be alive, but some things are meant to be," she said.

Her mission is to find who did this. No one has been arrested so far and she's asking for the public's help while expressing frustration with the lack of movement on the investigative front. She says they were driving a white Hyundai Tiburon and a black Ford truck.